This paper describes the implementation of a reliable Get-Put interface written for a distributed memory environment. The asynchronous semantics of the Put as well as the split transaction feature of the Get operations allow for a highly e cient style of programming. Porting this environment to a dedicated cluster of PowerPC machines connected with a 155 Mbps Optical ATM interface o ers the following advantages: 1 the cost performance advantages of commodity network components, 2 the distance advantages of optical interconnects, 3 a high performance Get-Put interface that can hide latency with concurrent operations. The latency for a remote read operation is 99 microseconds when su cient concurrency exists.